Gotta Love Your Pearls and Buttons - Literally

I might have called this post, "Things I Learned While Preparing for Our Yard Sale." Or..., "Things I Never Knew I Always Knew About Stuff."  (Especially my stuff.)  It surprises me sometimes the things people will tell me that I never knew I always knew. 

Little gems of knowledge, like..... 
If the mommy cats are out hunting, who is babysitting?  Daddy cats, of course! 
Or, what will a bird do if you put a strange chick in her nest?  Feed it.  Why, what would you do? 
Or, why do some mommies take care of other people's babies?  Duh.  Because ALL babies 

have been given a voice that NO ONE can ignore.  (It's necessary to ensure their survival!  God also provides new mommies with a hefty dose of Love Potion #9.  Same reason.)

There's a  ton of wisdom out there that makes perfect sense once you hear someone else say it out loud.   And I found out I knew lots of things that I wasn't aware of until I needed to use them.  These are just a few: 

Those old buttons made of mother of pearl or abalone or other other shells that I have collected and horded over the years are mostly worthless.  They are also perishable items.  Like pearls, they need to be touched and worn - lovingly and often.  They need the oils from your fingertips.  So when I dug out my jars and dishes full of these old beauties, the first thing I noticed was that they appeared dull, even after I rubbed them a bit with my fingers.  I briefly considered how to polish them up.  Very briefly.  I didn't want to ruin them. Then I remembered about the pearls.  I couldn't go back in time and handle them all, so I settled for rubbing them with baby oil.  I would have preferred mineral oil, but baby oil was what I had.  It seemed to do a really nice job, and they should live for years longer now.

One of the oiled buttons made it very clear that I should not have been doing this at the table on the patio.  When it slipped from my fingers it hit the concrete and broke with a certain little part ping and part snap kind of sound.  The broken piece flew like a little rocket.  I was impressed.

The largest jar containing the nicest buttons became a gift for a friend of mine who dearly loves them and accepted them like pure gold offerings.  What a great use for something really cool that turns out to have little or no cash value!  It made us both very happy, and will continue to do so for many years to come.

A few of the remaining buttons were individuals and therefore in my eyes unique.  So far I have kept those. Others were matched sets of 3 to 8 buttons.  I decided I could probably sell the entire collection for a few bucks if I spent the time and effort finding someone who dealt in vintage clothing.  I'm  pretty sure that grouping can be as effective as presentation. 

Since I was working on a yard sale, the whole presentation thing had already been severely compromised.  I opted for the opposite of grouping, sort of, dividing them into matched sets and pricing each set at either 1 or 2 dollars.  The collection should pull in as much as 4 times more money by breaking it up and selling parcels off cheap.  Yard sale cheap.

Guess what?  On my list of things you need to know before you host a yard sale is to remember that there are people out there who like to steal things.  Even at yard sales.  The fine porcelain dish holding all of those little bundles of vintage buttons was stolen from right under our noses.  Along with two separate fist-sized bundles of matched rhinestone buttons that were on the table in the same general area.  I can't believe how much this bothers me.  It was such a minor loss, financially speaking.  Far less than the 10% shrinkage considered standard by most retailers.  It makes me very glad that I gave the bulk of the collection away.  I would feel guilty about it forever if I hadn't and the entire collection was stolen when it could have been such a perfect gift. 

Anyway, I'll be working on finding a better way to display and sell these kinds of small collectibles.  And better ways to control the flurries of activity that happen at yard sales, leaving us vulnerable to cons and shoplifters.  I have to, because I don't have very many left.  I'd like to get a little something for them so the entire collection is not a total loss.  I'll be asking other people how they have managed this problem, and trying out a few ideas of my own.

[If anyone has any suggestions or ideas about handling this problem, be sure to leave a comment.  I'm sure we'd all love to try them out.]